Floating macroplastic accumulations are formed in several stages during the migration of the riverine litter from its source to the marine environments. Our preliminary data shows that floating riverine litter accumulations that are not covered by vegetation are detectable from the air and from space alike. Earth observation satellites equipped with medium- and high-resolution multispectral sensors have undergone major technological developments.. An automated evaluator for waste monitoring and change detection was developed. The program provides an easy and robust solution to configure territories for continuous observation. The application downloads satellite images from the mentioned sources on a daily basis (given that a new image is available for the selected area) and compares the amount of waste covered surface to previous images. The solution is tailorable for the remote surveillance of new areas let it be about floating macroplastic accumulation, illegal dumping or floodplain with regular waste accumulation.

Related projects:

The AQPLA supported the initial development of the technology.

http://www.futureplastik.hu/robo-collect

The DALIA Danube Lighthouse Horizon project with grant agreement ID:101094070 supported the further development and application of the technology towards commercialization.

https://kms.dalia-danube.eu/pilot-sites/dps8/

References and publications:

Magyar D, Cserép M, Vincellér Z, Molnár AD (2023) Waste Detection and Change Analysis based on Multispectral Satellite Imagery. arXiv 2303.14521

https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.14521

Molnár AD, Málnás K, Bőhm S, Gyalai-Korpos M, Cserép M, Kiss T. (2024) Comparative Analysis of Riverine Plastic Pollution Combining Citizen Science, Remote Sensing and Water Quality Monitoring Techniques. Sustainability. 16(12):5040.

https://doi.org/10.3390/su16125040

Development partner:

ELTE